Marvel Adds Two More Superhero TV Series to Its Already Massive Development Slate

The Marvel empire just keeps expanding. On the film side of things, the studio is releasing more than a dozen films between now and 2020, and new announcements are coming all the time, while on the TV side it’s juggling Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, the upcoming Luke Cage and Iron Fist series, and probably a good bit more that we don’t know about yet. Now, two new TV shows are on the way, and for a certain kind of Marvel fan, they’re the most exciting of all.

Earlier this week Marvel announced a pair of new TV developments, both produced in tandem with Fox, the studio that’s been cranking out X-Men films for the last 15 years.

First, there’s Legion, which has a pilot order at FX (oh yeah, Marvel’s going cable!) and will be written by Noah Hawley, creator of the fantastic FX series Fargo. Here’s what it’s about.

“The pilot introduces the story of David Haller: Since he was a teenager, David has struggled with mental illness. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real.”

Then, there’s Hellfire, which is in development at Fox under the guidance of creators Evan Katz (24: Live Another Day), Manny Cotto (24), Patrick McKay and JD Payne (Star Trek 3). Here’s how that project is described.

“Set in the late 1960s, the series – which will be produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Marvel Television, with 20th Century Fox handling the physical production – follows a young Special Agent who learns that a power-hungry woman with extraordinary abilities is working with a clandestine society of millionaires – known as ‘The Hellfire Club’ – to take over the world.”

Both shows have potential X-Men movie connections – David Haller, aka Legion, is Charles Xavier’s long lost son in the comics, while members of The Hellfire Club were showcased in X-Men: First Class – and both have X-Men film producers Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, and Lauren Shuler Donner in their corners. That said, it’s unclear if there will actually be any connection, particularly since Marvel is involved. Rumors about an acrimonious relationship between Fox and Marvel have persisted for a while, to the point that it’s been claimed Marvel will someday cancel its X-Men comics just to spite the movies, but at the moment they seem to be playing nice. I wouldn’t hold your breath for any movie crossovers at the moment, though.

Still, in the span of a year Marvel has both reclaimed Spider-Man and found a way to work with Fox and its mutant characters. World domination might not be far behind.